The performance of "The Meeting" will start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, in Parents Hall at Olmsted Center. Admission is $2 for the general public or free with a Drake ID.

The play will be presented by 7AM Productions, which is in its eighth season of bringing stories of cultural diversity and enlightenment to the stage. There is both passion and humor in the company's presentation of these two complex and very different civil rights leaders.

Dr. King will be played by Kipchoge Keino Ryan, a contracting officer for the Department of the Navy and a member of Positive Kemetic Visions, a community organization that provides mentors for black youth in the Washington, D.C., area. Malcolm X will be played by Andre Minkins, who is also the director, producer and writer of "The Meeting" and a drama instructor for 7AM Productions. In addition to the two civil rights leaders, the cast includes a bodyguard played by Bernard Fredericks-Rashad, a former professional football player now pursuing a career in screenwriting and acting.

Drake also will host the annual reception and banquet for the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund on Saturday, Jan. 18, in Olmsted Center. The reception will start at 5:30 p.m. with a dinner following at 6:30 p.m. The keynote speaker will be J. Michael Earley, a member of Drake's Board of Trustees and president and CEO of Bankers Trust Co. Also speaking at the dinner will be Rudy Simms, president of the scholarship fund, which continues King's legacy by raising and awarding scholarships to Iowa minority students attending an Iowa college or university. Since 1986, more than $60,000 has been awarded in scholarships.

The cost of the dinner is $25. For reservations, call Simms at 274-5571 or send an e-mail message to rsimms@nccj.org.

The committee, which also will include students, will meet for the first time on Thursday, Jan. 23, to start organizing the Drake community's efforts to raise funds for juvenile diabetes research and to participate in the Walk to Cure Diabetes on Saturday, March 1. The initial meeting will start at 4 p.m. in room 132 of Olmsted Center.

"We welcome anyone who's interested in helping with this effort," said Don Adams, chair of the committee and executive assistant to the president for community and alumni affairs. "Drake is proud to be supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which has provided more than $500 million to diabetes research worldwide."
Approximately 16 million Americans suffer from diabetes, including hundreds of thousands of children affected with this lifelong disease.

Faculty and staff members interested in serving on Drake's committee should contact Adams at x2191 or don.adams@drake.edu prior to the group's first meeting.

"The results this fall have been extraordinary. I am awfully proud of the students' achievements this semester," said Shulman, assistant professor of environmental science and policy. "A typical semester might see five to eight letters published with perhaps one or two in The New York Times, where the acceptance rate is very low."

The Letters to the Editor office at the Times receives more than 11,000 letters each week, according to spokeswoman Sharon Sion. "We publish the best 15 to 16 letters received for each day," she said. "In response to one story, we can receive as many 300 letters, e-mails and faxes. When there's breaking news, that number can easily double."

Shulman encourages his students to write letters to the editor because "letter writing is what engaged citizens do." To increase the chances of getting published, he urges students to read lots of other letters, respond to issues in the paper already, be concise and careful with their observations, be provocative, and write about something they care about.

Shulman's students received 10 points of extra credit for each letter published in The Des Moines Register or a hometown newspaper and 20 points for each letter published in the Times. More important, they gained a sense of engagement as citizens and the opportunity to share their opinions.

Mary Harkness, a first-year journalism major from Overland Park, Kan., was one of the seven students to have a letter published in the Times. Titled "Starving for Beauty," her letter decried the mass media's emphasis on female models who are extremely thin. "It's sad that the eyes of our American society are blanketed by the lies about beauty and perfection, when in reality what we're doing is starving ourselves," the letter said. "I'm incredibly delighted that it was published because I feel this issue is something that more citizens need to be made aware of," she said.

The other students who saw their letters printed in the Times are Abigail Buell, a sophomore from New Richmond, Wis.; Jessica Ernst, a first-year student from Marshall, Wis.; Brendan Mark, a first-year student from Tonganoxie, Kan.; Kristin McLaughlin, a sophomore from Elmwood, Neb.; Stephanie Peterson, a first-year student from Andover, Minn.; and Ashley Templeton, a first-year student from Woodbury, Minn.

Brett Myrick, a first-year student from Baldwin City, Kan., had three letters published in the Register. Two were about the impending war in Iraq and one opposed some homeland security measures.

"Seeing my name actually published next to an opinion that I had to craft made me feel like an engaged citizen for the first time in my life," Myrick said. "I've enjoyed it so much that I continue to write letters to the Register and my hometown newspaper even though no class incentive is offered."

Kalie McKee, a first-year student from Geneva, Ill., submitted more than 20 letters during the semester and saw three printed in the Register. "When my first letter got published, I felt very good," she said. "It was so awesome to see my own writing and thoughts in a newspaper that circulates to so many households. I had many relatives calling me congratulating me on my writing. It also felt awesome to know that maybe my letter made some people think twice about their thoughts on the topic.

"Being a teen-ager can sometimes make it very hard to get your opinions across because some people do not take you seriously. Being able to submit something and not have to put your age on it so they couldn't discriminate against your age was great. Whenever I have an opinion, I like for others to hear it. I know I learn a lot from other peoples' opinions because they make me look at things from a variety of points of view. I think I will continue to write letters to the editor. I have realized that my opinions really do matter and get read. This makes me want to write even more!"

The concert will start at 7:30 p.m. on the Jordan Stage. The Drake Choir, Chamber Choir, Vocal Arts Ensemble and Iowa Youth Choruses will perform individually as well as collectively, along with young singers from throughout Iowa.

The program includes Movement III of Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms," the Biebl "Ave Maria," "In the Heart of the World" by Bob Chilcott as well as works by Brahms, Pärt, Stroope and Harris. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 for students and $10 for non-students.

"Having watched David work at AmericaFest, I can guarantee that he is a fabulous musician, excellent teacher and a wonderful human being," said Aimee Beckmann-Collier, director of choral activities at Drake. "We are very lucky to have him spending several days on our campus."

A fellow of the Royal College of Organists at 17 while at Chethem's School in Manchester, Hill attended Cambridge University, where he was the organ scholar at St. John's College. He served as organist and director of music at Winchester Cathedral from 1987 to 2002 and currently conducts the London Bach Choir and the Royal School of Music Choir. He also is a commentator for the BBC.

As a world-class organist, Hill has given recitals in major venues in the United Kingdom and has conducted concert tours of the United States and Australia, as well as many European cities, both as a soloist and with the Winchester Cathedral Choir.

In addition to the concert, the Drake community is invited to attend the following events:

Tuesday, Jan. 14